The number of homeless veterans fell 5.4 percent since 2017 according to an annual, one-night survey conducted in January, reversing the increase recorded last year after the figure had dropped steadily since 2010. The latest estimate found 37,878 veterans experienced homelessness, compared to 40,020 reported in January 2017. The 2017 figure represented an increase of more than 500 people over the previous year. Veterans advocates applauded this year’s improvement, but said the federal government could be doing more.

“Down is always a good thing, especially given the affordable housing crisis we’re seeing in America today,” Kathryn Monet, CEO of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, told Military Times. “But we still have a sense that if leadership were more committed to this issue, we could have seen even bigger decreases.”

Each year thousands of local communities conduct a one-night, point-in-time estimate of the number of persons experiencing homelessness — in emergency shelters, transitional housing programs and in unsheltered locations, according to a Housing and Urban Development Department press release.